Abstract [en]

In this report the researcher discusses the problem of assessing the value of Swedish carbon dioxide emissions, given the EU’s climate policy architecture. An important implication of the EU’s emission targets is that when an agent increases its emissions some other agent has to abate correspondingly more so that the aggregate emissions are kept at the target level. Thus, such an emission increment does not increase the risk for climate change. Hereby the approach of valuating carbon emission by assessing the environmental damage has lost its relevance for these emissions. On the other hand, someone else has to bear additional abatement costs. These costs are the economic consequences of increased emissions, e.g. due to increased traffic in Sweden, and those that we are trying to assess here. These costs may be seen as the marginal political valuation of carbon dioxide emissions.